Whilst in the older prior art, points were frequently used which required the vehicle crossing the points to stop on the switch point during its adjustment, in more recent times there has been an increase in the use of continuously operating points where the vehicle can cross the points without stopping. The advantages of such continuously operating switch points are obvious: the throughput of vehicles through the rail system is greater since time is not required for braking, stopping and reaccelerating the vehicle in the region of the switch point.
A continuously operating switch point of the type referred to at the start is described in DE 20 2008 010 439 U1. Here, the moving rail sections, which are assigned to both rails of the main track, are all mounted together on a slide moving in a linear direction. The slide is in turn moved by a single drive. The disadvantage with this arrangement is firstly that different components, in particular different slides, have to be made available for different track gauges, and moreover, that relatively large masses have to be accelerated and braked when changing points, which can lead to undesirable vibrations if the rail system is mounted on a steel structure.